Iraqi Religious Leaders Call for Peace

yahoo/ap: Appeals from religious leaders and an unusual daytime curfew Friday curbed violence that claimed more than 140 lives across Iraq after the bombing of a Shiite shrine. ."

... Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari reached out to Sunnis and Shiites, promising to rebuild the Shiites' Askariya shrine in Samarra and Sunni mosques damaged in two days of reprisal attacks.

The daytime curfew kept most vehicles and pedestrians off the streets of Baghdad, preventing many people from reaching mosques for the main Muslim prayer service of the week but also blunting protests and preventing attacks.

People were allowed to walk to neighborhood mosques, many of which were guarded by heavily armed Iraqi police and soldiers. Preachers at several leading mosques urged their followers to maintain calm for the sake of the nation.

But sectarian anger remained high following Wednesday's destruction of a famed Shiite shrine, as did the threat of more violence.

The Iraqi government announced another daytime curfew for Saturday in Baghdad and the surrounding provinces of Salaheddin, Babil and Diyala. And the U.S. military said it would carry out additional security patrols for another 48 hours. Read more